Waltham landlord, neighbors seek closure in triple homicide case

Wednesday

May 22, 2013 at 12:01 AMMay 22, 2013 at 10:16 PM

Local residents and the landlord of the Waltham home where three people were killed in 2011 said reports that a man, before he was killed by the FBI, was going to admit that he and one of the Marathon bombing suspects had a role in the homicides could bring closure to the community.

Staff reports

Local residents and the landlord of the Waltham home where three people were killed in 2011 said reports that a man, before he was killed by the FBI, was going to admit that he and one of the Marathon bombing suspects had a role in the homicides could bring closure to the community.

But Charles Paquett, the landlord at 12 Harding Ave., said the victims’ mothers still won’t be able to talk to their children.

"If it was these kids that did it, I’m happy for (the victims’) families that we’ll have closure and can move on," Paquett told the News Tribune. "My prayers are still with the families."

Harding Avenue residents were unhappy this week that the matter was coming up again and want it to end.

One neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous, called the neighborhood "quiet."

"We really don’t know anything," she said. "We hope that this brings a close to everything and everyone will go away."

Khusen Taramov said he and Ibragim Todashev were being questioned about the Boston Marathon bombings by an FBI official and law enforcement officers in Orlando, according to a report from news partner WCVB.

Taramov said Todashev, 27, knew bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev because both were MMA fighters. Todashev lived in Watertown before moving to Florida, according to WCVB.

Sources said Todashev was about to admit his role in the triple homicide that happened in Waltham on Sept. 11, 2011, when he "went crazy."

"There was some sort of aggressive movement that led the FBI agent to believe he was under threat and he opened fire," a law enforcement official told ABC News. It was not clear what role Todashev may have played, but he was "about to sign a statement" admitting to a role with Tsarnaev in the unsolved murders.

The FBI confirmed that a person was shot and killed in Florida this week, but would not disclose details about the investigation.

"The agent, along with two Massachusetts State Police troopers and other law enforcement personnel, were interviewing an individual in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing investigation when a violent confrontation was initiated by the individual," the FBI said in a statement.

The Waltham Police Department, the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office and the Boston division of the FBI did not comment on the case. The State Police referred calls to the FBI.

Since the FBI Shooting Incident Review Team from Washington, D.C., is currently in Orlando and investigating the shooting, the Tampa division of the FBI said it could not comment about the case.

The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office is looking into the possible tie between now-dead bombing suspect Tsarnaev and the Sept. 11, 2011, homicides.

The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office continues its open and active investigation into the homicides, working closely with the State Police, Waltham Police and the FBI, according to a statement released Thursday.

"This investigation has not concluded and is by no means closed," the DA’s office said.

Tsarnaev had been training with one of the 2011 murder victims in an attempt to transition from boxing into a possible career in the sport of mixed martial arts, according to WCVB. One of the murder victims identified by police, Brendan Mess, 25, of Waltham and originally from Cambridge, was a well-known mixed martial arts fighter.

The three men killed had their throats stabbed and their bodies covered with marijuana, according to police. The grisly murder scene had produced no leads made public to date. Cambridge residents Eric Weissman, 31, and Rapheal Teken, 37, were also killed. Teken graduated from Brookline High School and Brandeis University.

Tsarnaev was shot and killed during a shootout with police in Watertown last month, days after the bombings that killed three and injured dozens of people.

His younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is charged with using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death and malicious destruction of property resulting in death in connection with the bombings.